By Jim White & Jim Chastain We use brands to tell ourselves stories about who we are. The brands that are most meaningful to us are those that play a role in our internal life stories, or what psychologists call our Narrative Identity. We’ve spent years listening to people tell stories about how brands fit […]

In a recent blog post, I wrote about the concept of Narrative Identity and what it means for brands. (You can read that blog post here.) In short, Narrative Identity is the life story we tell ourselves to give our lives a sense of coherence and purpose. We are all creators of our own myths […]

Over the last several months I’ve presented at a few major consumer research and insights conferences on the topic of Narrative Identity and how brands can play a role in our life stories. Here is a 15-minute video from the iiEX conference in Atlanta titled “Brands & American Mythology: Narrative Identity, Brand Identity, and the […]

I have talked to thousands of people in qualitative research over the years and this truth has always stuck out to me…when people say they “try” to do something it essentially means they don’t do it but would certainly like to think about themselves as someone who would do it. “I try to work out […]

You’ve done qualitative research to get insights into your consumers. Maybe you went into their homes or you did focus groups to talk about what’s wrong with the category and what they wish for. You’ve got shopper insights that reveal how they act when they’re in the store. Your R&D department has even created products […]